"How many teams do you expect to solve THAT?"
So, the 2010 MIT Mystery Hunt happened this past weekend. I helped run it. (Not nearly as much as many other fine people did, but even my taking-credit-for-anything-is-immodest-and-rude brain will accept that I was a functional part of making the Hunt happen this year.) Even with staying at a hotel this year, and getting reasonable amounts of sleeping and bathing done at said hotel, I am only now starting to feel like I've recovered from the experience. I hope everyone who participated had fun.
Despite not having any puzzles in the hunt, or being familiar with MIT, or being able to walk anywhere at any useful speed, there are things that I feel I contributed:
1) I became a testsolving automaton (in concert with several other brilliant teammates) in the weeks prior to Hunt. This sputtered out a few days beforehand, leading to my final testsolving "success" requiring no fewer than three separate mental prods by my teammates while on-site.
2) I was very good at monitoring the noise level of HQ, and going "ssssshhhhhhh" every 30 seconds or so, for hours on end.
3) I proved mostly competent at asking teams their team names, doing alphanumeric arithmetic, and holding cards up in the air. :)
Now that I've managed to be immodest for an extended period, I will end this post by giving my unending compliments and thanks to my teammates, who wrote incredible puzzles, did incredible testsolving, wrangled incredible wrangly-things, and so much more. Everyone on Beginner's Luck, you are awesome and I dig you.
(More specific thoughts possibly to follow. But possibly not, considering both how often I manage to post to LJ lately in general, and the fact that I still haven't finished talking about the 2009 Hunt.)
Despite not having any puzzles in the hunt, or being familiar with MIT, or being able to walk anywhere at any useful speed, there are things that I feel I contributed:
1) I became a testsolving automaton (in concert with several other brilliant teammates) in the weeks prior to Hunt. This sputtered out a few days beforehand, leading to my final testsolving "success" requiring no fewer than three separate mental prods by my teammates while on-site.
2) I was very good at monitoring the noise level of HQ, and going "ssssshhhhhhh" every 30 seconds or so, for hours on end.
3) I proved mostly competent at asking teams their team names, doing alphanumeric arithmetic, and holding cards up in the air. :)
Now that I've managed to be immodest for an extended period, I will end this post by giving my unending compliments and thanks to my teammates, who wrote incredible puzzles, did incredible testsolving, wrangled incredible wrangly-things, and so much more. Everyone on Beginner's Luck, you are awesome and I dig you.
(More specific thoughts possibly to follow. But possibly not, considering both how often I manage to post to LJ lately in general, and the fact that I still haven't finished talking about the 2009 Hunt.)